Canvas of my Heart
by SoTimeless
Summary: Draco Malfoy started working as a professional portrait painter in Venice. After almost seven years of working alone he decided to move away from there. But before that, he decided to do one last portrait in Venice before he moved to Dunedin. Little did he know that that portrait would change the course of his life and why wouldn't it, it involved a Greengrass. #Love #HurtnComfort
1. Chapter 1

**Canvas of my Heart**

**Chapter 1**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my imagination.**

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_Venice, 2005_

It was a beautiful day in Venice, Italy. Cool winds were blowing everywhere and the sun was shining brightly, making Venice look even more beautiful than it already was. Lots of couples were moving around, holding hands, kissing, going on Gondola rides and just enjoying each other's company. There were also loads of tourists roaming around with their children. It was an enjoyable day for everyone, except for one. Draco Malfoy.

After the war, in order to avoid the gaze of people who looked at him like there was nothing filthier than him in the entire world, he moved to Italy. The Malfoy's were not sent to Azkaban as they had changed sides at the very last minute of the battle and because it was Narcissa's lie to Voldemort that protected Harry from dying in the Forbidden Forest that night. This made many people boil with anger especially the family of the ex-Hogwarts teacher, Charity Burbage, who was killed in their house.

All this made Draco want to die. He tried brewing a poison that would kill him instantly but was unsuccessful, he tried to find anything in his house with which he could end his life and free himself from every accusation but he failed to do that as well. The guilt of being a Death Eater made him want to drown himself in an ocean of guilt. He knew that he should've been in Azkaban for using two unforgivable curses; the only thing that made him slightly happy was that he had never used the killing curse or killed anyone.

One day he had been going through his mother's old magazines of Witch Weekly. He wanted a job because he couldn't live in his house anymore. The walls haunted him. He used to feel that the walls were trying to come closer and slowly suffocate him while he sat on his bed at night. He also imagined hearing the screams of people who died there, every night.

Late that night he found a two month old advertisement given in Witch Weekly about the training offered by one of the famous wizarding portrait painter, Milikan Istevan, who was currently living in Venice, Italy. His parents were against the idea of him moving away from them because according to them, learning the art of painting portraits of a person, with which the actual person spends time, that acquire his or her qualities was menial. But Draco found the profession fascinating, different than the normal Healers, Auror and other jobs. He wanted to do that and was not going to change his decision for anyone.

Milikan Istevan had a habit, he gave his best student the studio he worked in while living in a particular place. Draco wanted to be that student because he had absolutely no desire of ever returning to the cold manor whose memory made Draco scared to death. Narcissa and Lucius, on the other hand, didn't want Draco to go to a foreign land alone and volunteered to go with him. But Draco had heard about their plan of brainwashing his mind about painting as soon as they got there. He knew that his parents could sink that low and do absolutely any kind of magic on him to make him dance on their fingertips. Though he was sure that he wanted to go alone, to make his own life and to stand on his own feet, it was one of the first decisions he had made for himself since his sixth year at Hogwarts and was extremely proud of it.

He had sent a letter to Milikan the very next day but he got rejected due to late application submission. He didn't have the courage to tell that to Lucius and Narcissa, he actually wanted his parents to be angry with him due to his new rebelling nature because it gave him a morale boost. So he altered the words in the letter and showed it to his parents. They were furious and made him sit with them in order to make him act like a pureblood. Draco, who just kept smiling while Narcissa and Lucius were shouting at him, kept thinking of a way to make Milikan admit him in his class. Then an idea popped up in his mind that night, he immediately took a parchment, several coloured quills, paint and his wand and started creating his first master piece. The thing that surprised him was that he had achieved such peace of mind while painting that he forgot where he was. A week filled with hours of hard work later, he had completed it.

It was a painting of a little blonde haired boy crying. He looked merely five years old. His face was shining with tears leaking from his eyes, his eyes were reflecting the image of a dementer and his broken toy broomstick kept next to him marked the fleeing of his innocence. The portrait was a depiction of him, Draco. The child in it was the child inside him who was crying more nosily than a hungry toddler. The dementer showcased the lack of happiness in his life and the broomstick depicted the task that Voldemort had assigned him. The picture looked so real that when Draco looked at it, he thought it was a mirror. And when his parents saw it, they burst into tears and didn't utter a single word about not going to him again.

He had sent the portrait to Milikan and what Draco received was a tear filled letter. He had been so touched by the painting that he immediately took him under his guidance.

After three years of training, at the age of twenty-two he was graduated from Milikan's school and to his delight, he had been given the huge condo, with a studio, to work and live. Milikan left the very next day and Draco moved in his apartment. No one knew where he went this time but Draco had an idea that he'll soon be seeing a pamphlet with his teacher's name, asking for new students from a new fancy location he had set.

In the first few months of working independently, Draco hadn't been very popular but he had started gaining attention from people, eventually. Though many people were still not willing to come anywhere near him, there were some that risked. And the good thing was that they were not disappointed. They saw his work and bought it. Soon people swarmed around him just to get a look of his work, he had to set several galleries of his work just to get some privacy at his apartment.

Although even after so much work there was a time when wished he could run away and settle at a new place but his feet wouldn't let him. He had fallen in love with the place, with the people, with the weather, with the water, the boat rides yet there were times when he wished he had someone to enjoy it with. He even stooped low to think about writing to Pansy and inviting her to his home but he was pretty sure that he didn't want to go through her once again. The small romance between Pansy and him was more like a set up to keep their parents happy and to get some experience with kissing and being part of a relationship. The good thing was they had never officially begun or ended their relationship; its beginning was marked by a kiss and ended with him hexing her when she followed him to the Astronomy tower in their sixth year.

After three years of working in Venice independently, he felt that the feeling of loneliness had fully enclosed him in a shell and no one could penetrate it or break it. The twenty-two year old Draco had loved this feeling of freedom but the changed twenty-five year old felt the same old routine making him hate life again. He loved his work but he didn't understand why he was doing the work. Why he had been saving each Knut that he earned? Because he didn't have anyone in his life to spend the money on. The flicker of hope that he had in his heart was about to be blown out.

Two days later he decided to do something about it and so he took the decision of moving to another place, a faraway place. To Dunedin, New Zealand. To begin new. But before he moved, he had one last painting to make in Venice. He got the letter from his teacher, Milikan Istevan, about a lady who wanted the portrait of her daughter painted.

He heard the knock on the door and immediately ran to open it. His eyes widened as he looked at Mrs Velucia Greengrass standing on the door, wearing expensive looking purple robes, and standing behind her was a young woman who looked like she would rather die than stay there.

"Draco Malfoy!" Velucia Greengrass exclaimed, striding inside the house without permission. She looked around with the eyes of a critic and scrunched her nose in disgust. "You live in this filth! The heir of Lucius Malfoy living in this disg..."

"Mother!" The girl exclaimed, still standing at the door.

"Astoria come inside!" Velucia shouted with gritted teeth, but in a lady like voice.

"No!"

"What did you say to me young lady?!" Velucia exclaimed. Draco kept looking from his left to right as the mother and daughter fought.

"Just what you heard. I can't come inside a stranger's house without his or her permission. Remember, one of the points from my 'how to be a pureblood lady' sessions," the girl named Astoria spat.

Draco looked at her and smiled apologetically. He noticed that she had light brown hair and was wearing a travelling clock which looked very expensive. "Please, come in," he said curtly.

Velucia rolled her eyes as Astoria came in looking at the house as if it was some kind of masterpiece. She cleared her throat to clear the thoughts in her daughter's mind before saying, "Where was I? Oh, yes... The heir of Lucius Malfoy living in this disg..."

"I think it's magnificent!" Astoria said dreamily, looking at the nearby paintings in awe.

"Astoria when you are told then only you should speak! How could you possibly land a husband if you kept acting like a tramp," Velucia yelled.

Astoria looked at her mother and smiled. "You call me tramp because I am unladylike. Just accept it that I am not perfect like you or Daphne. You just need to deal with it."

Velucia glared at her and stated, "I should've killed you when I had the chance. Everyone said that I didn't look like I will have a boy that time but I was very sure that your father and I would have a beautiful boy. Instead we got you! I should've aborted you like your grandmother told me to."

"Of course. No wonder you and dad call me the biggest mistake of your life. I prefer dying than being your daughter!" she exclaimed, tears falling out of her eyes.

"Now you are crying! It's not like I have said this to you the very first time. Anyways," -Velucia turned towards Draco who was gazing sadly at the silently weeping figure of Astoria- "So it's a ritual to have the painting of every member of the family, even the undesirables, to be hanged in our library. You would've seen that Draco when you used to come to play with Daphne and by the way, she is now turned into a beautiful lady who will bear you equally beautiful children. You can owl her after you are done with this painting of Astoria. Exactly, how long will it take to complete?"

Draco looked at Velucia and said angrily, "Almost five weeks."

"Alright!" She leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Even if you finish it in two days, I don't mind. Astoria isn't actually beautiful or has any nice features that will land her a good husband. I would love to see her unmarried even when she dies; you know she deserves it anyway. You know how bad it is to have no men in the family to take the family line further." She kissed his cheek and moved away from him. "She will be living in a cheap muggle hotel nearby so she doesn't delay your work. Right, Astoria?"

"Yes mother," Astoria sighed tearfully.

Velucia nodded and left through the door of the apartment right away, without even once looking back at her daughter. Immediately Draco closed the door and locked it. He turned towards the young woman who was standing in the middle of his studio-slash-apartment and looking down at the floor.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked softly, moving closer to her.

"Yeah... should we begin?" She asked, not meeting his eye.

"I don't think you are okay... You know, you look very familiar. Have we ever met?" He asked, tilting her hand up with his hand so he could examine her face. It had dried tears on it and beautiful grey eyes, like him. He couldn't understand why her mother wouldn't call her beautiful because according to him, he had never seen a woman more beautiful than her.

"Not officially but you were... or are Daphne's friend. You used to come to the house around the age of eleven or twelve with your friends Pansy and Goyle and used to eat a lot of homemade cake," she replied laughing, her eyes shining as she remembered the memory.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Draco said, smiling at the memory too. "I only used to come to the house to eat the cake. It was bloody delicious. I would kiss the person who made those or increase the salary of the house elf who made it."

Astoria blushed furiously. She bowed her head down and said, "Can I tell you a secret too? I... I don't usually kiss people I just met."

"Huh... so you are the secret chef, eh? Impressive," he replied smirking.

"Not so impressive. I wanted to make a career out of my baking skills like in the muggle world but my mother doesn't let me live my life. I feel like a caged bird... Do you know how happy I am to be here? It's this brilliant feeling that has enclosed my entire body. I mean you look at the mothers of other people and they are so warm, loving and welcoming but my mother is the complete opposite. Not to Daphne though, she is the princess of the house... I heard what she said in your ear and yes, it's true. She wants you to marry Daphne," she said sadly.

"I don't want to marry Daphne. She is annoying, a big pain in the arse!" He exclaimed.

"Oh no! She is not just annoying, she is a ruddy nightmare. She has this annoying friend, Pansy Parkinson, and they keep giggling all the time. And I can't understand one thing, if you want to laugh you should laugh loudly and heartily not the girlish giggle," she exclaimed, running her hand through her hair.

"I actually dated Pansy," Draco mumbled.

Immediately Astoria's face fell open in surprise and she started laughing loudly, as she had said. "I feel so sorry for you! You dated Pansy Parkinson! Didn't find anyone else, did you?"

"Hey, in my defence she came on to me... Well, I would've dated you but I thought you didn't like me," Draco said, smirking.

Her face turned a little red. She quickly shook her head and looked at him, "Of-course I didn't like you and you wouldn't have dated me because till today you didn't even know that I existed. But I did not like you in school at all, your friends once pulled the hair of my friend."

The happiness drenched out of Draco's face as he heard the last line. He remembered suddenly the one memory he had of her in which she had hexed Crabbe for pulling her friend's hair. He wanted the hair for the Polyjuice potion that he was making Crabbe and Goyle drink to guard the Room of Requirement. "I am sorry about that," he finally said sadly.

Astoria smiled and tip toed to kiss him on the cheek. "It's okay... Should we begin?"

Draco nodded, touching his cheek, and smiled. He began setting up his work station as Astoria took her travelling cloak off to reveal the beautiful white and blue knee length backless dress she was wearing. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and swallowed hard as his eyes roamed all over her body. He averted his gaze from her and started to set the canvas up. He waved his wand at the canvas, the coloured quills and paint, then moved near her and waved his wand to make an armchair appear out of thin air behind her.

"Oho! Thank you. By the way, I love your place. It's so beautiful," she said.

"No, this is more like a trash can of my works. I am actually thinking of moving away. To a new place, to have a new beginning. Dunedin, maybe," he said, flicking her hair with his wand so that it would stay the same way.

"Wow! I wish I could go to New Zealand too. To start new," she said, now staring directly into his grey eyes.

"I am going to start now," he said, clearing his throat.

So as he began painting with a paint brush in one hand and his wand in the other, waving it without break at the canvas as he painted every small detail. They both took ten minute breaks every three hours. At around six in the evening he put his wand back in his robes, which had various colours splattered on it, and the quills and paint brushes away. He covered the painting with a cloth and looked at Astoria who had fallen asleep in the same position.

He slowly went towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder which made her scream loudly. "Bloody hell Astoria! It's me, Draco," he said softly as she slowly remembered where she was.

"Oh! I thought I was in Transfiguration class and Professor McGonagall was correcting my essay," she stated, burying her face in her hands.

"Don't worry about it! Come let's go out for dinner," he said, extending his hand for her to hold.

She took his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Transfiguration is one of my best subjects and the thought of failing it scared me," she told him.

He nodded, smiling and picked up her travelling cloak kept on the table. He helped her to put it back on before waving his own wand on his robes to make them clean again. "I will take you to a very nice place. I really like the food there, I hope you will like it too." Astoria nodded and followed him out of the house.

After dinner they strolled around the streets talking and having a great time before they reached in front of the hotel Astoria was living in. The hotel looked like a haunted mansion and had scary looking people, standing outside the main entrance, that were leering at her like she was a piece of meat. Draco immediately pulled her closer to him in a protective way and walked away from the hotel until they could not see it from where they were standing.

"Draco, what are you doing?" Astoria questioned, eyeing him curiously.

"You can't possibly think of living there. I can't leave you all alone there at night... if you want to stay there then I'll also stay there with you otherwise come to my apartment," he stated seriously.

"But..."

"No, I want you to be safe."

Astoria sighed and after five minutes of thinking she nodded. "Okay, I'll go with you but what about my luggage?"

"You go to my apartment and give me the key of your room. I will go and bring it for you," he said.

"No! It's dangerous and.." She trailed off, touched.

"If you are saying that it is dangerous for me to go in just to take your luggage then how do you expect me to leave you there all alone at night! I will be alright. Go," he said, making her move in the direction of his apartment.

An hour later, he got home with her two suitcases levitating behind him although his left eye was seriously swelled up. When Draco had come back from her room with her suitcases he didn't have any idea that the manager of the hotel would beat him up because he had prevented, in his words 'the pretty lady', from returning to the hotel and so he fought with him but Draco was full of determination of not letting her come there or leaving her luggage in that ghastly place.

No sooner did Astoria spot the swelling around his eye, she ran towards him. She made him sit on the chair she was sitting on and examined his eye as he moaned in pain. She quickly ran towards a cupboard in the kitchen where she had seen some healing potions as she looked around the house in his absence. Taking a piece of cotton from the cupboard as well, Astoria came back and started gently dapping potion around his eye as he hissed in pain.

"It's alright! Just a few more seconds then it'll be better, I promise. Please," she pleaded as he moaned in pain.

After a few moments of excruciating pain, the potion started to come into effect and stopped the pain, his eye slowly started to return to the way it was. Draco rested his back on the chair and looked at the worried figure of Astoria looking at him as if he will moan again. He sighed, sitting upright, and told her about what had happened at the hotel, making her feel more and more ashamed of herself for sending Draco there alone.

"I am so sorry. I don't deserve all the things you are doing for me," she replied tearfully.

"You did nothing wrong and I am proud of what I did for you because if they did this to me,"- He pointed at his eye- "Then I don't even want to think about what they would've done to you."

"I am sorry! If there is something that I could do for you the please tell me."

He thought for a minute and then smiled. "There is one thing that you could do... Can you stay close to me?" Astoria smiled and nodded.

And as they lay in his bed together, Draco pulled her closer to himself. He smelled her hair and heard her breathing while smiling. His instincts told him that the next five weeks might just change his life forever.

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**This was originally a one-shot but I decided to make it a two-shot. **

**I hope you all like this and if not, tell me that in a review or something. You can tell me anything you want in that review but please do review. It gives me a morale boost. If you liked this story, you can read more of my work from my fanfiction profile page. **

**Review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer:- I do not own anything. **

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The first week passed by slowly but beautifully. Draco and Astoria had never felt something so wonderful in their entire lives. They immensely enjoyed each other's company. Every night after they had done some part of the painting, Draco used to take her out for something to eat and she used to surprise him every day in the morning with a delicious breakfast, which he rarely ever had before she came in his life. She even made him the cake that made him want to come to Greengrass manor everyday when he was young. And to prove that he really did come to her manor just for the delicious cake, he kissed both her hands after eating the entire cake.

The second week was also going perfectly until that one night, Draco had finished painting her face and was adding magical properties to it with his wand. After he was done with that, he put all his equipment back as Astoria asked him what he wanted to eat that night. She had brought groceries that morning and wanted to cook something nice for him as a thank you for all the things he had been doing for her.

She stood up, straightening her white and blue dressed and waited for him to answer her. But he only looked at her and started walking towards her without saying a word. They had been using a copying charm to prevent Astoria from getting dressed up every day, so Draco used to wave his wand at her and she was ready for posing. He slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She looked up at him and he did the same, without thinking of what would be the consequences of his actions, he leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

The shock to both of their bodies ended in a less than a millisecond as they began kissing each other with a ferocious power which they never thought they even had. Astoria immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to herself. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth and listened to sweet melody of her moaning for him. He moved his hand down to her bum, squeezing it before picking her up in his arms. She involuntarily wrapped her legs around his hips while tightly holding him by the shoulders.

One of his hands moved up her back, feeling the soft skin of her exposed back and reached the knot holding the upper part of her dress. He untied it quickly and broke the kiss to look for her signal for him to stop. She had never let a man who she had only known for a few weeks even hold her hand but at moment everything that was happening felt right to her. Surprisingly, the fact that she was almost naked in front of Draco Malfoy, didn't bother her much because at that moment she wanted him and he, her. She nodded and pressed her lips back as if it was the only way of survival.

He moved them towards the bedroom while kissing her urgently. On reaching his comfy bed, Draco placed her on the bed with him on top and pressed his weight on her gently. Hastily, he removed the remaining part of her dress, threw it behind him and got up to sit on his knees to gaze at the almost naked figure of Astoria lying on his bed and looking up at him, breathlessly yet a little lustily. Without wasting any more time he removed his clothes and threw them back as well.

He removed his and her last pair of clothing, undergarments, and pressed the weight of his hip gently on hers, evoking a gasp from her. He started kissing her from her face down to her chest, spending a lot of time fondling, kneading, sucking and licking her breasts, and to her feet leaving her gasping and moaning in pleasure. He laid back down on top of her, with his arms holding him up just a few inches from her body, and pressed his hard-on on her womanhood, once more, eliciting a loud moan from her again. She looked up at his face and moved it upwards to capture his lips. They kissed for a few more minutes before Astoria pulled back and nodded at him.

He immediately understood what she was hinting, he planted his lips on her again and then he slowly started pushing his penis inside her. He had known that she was no virgin and neither was he so it wasn't very difficult for either of them to enjoy the immense feeling of pleasure that was flowing throughout their body. He stared at her as her face showcased how much pleasure she was feeling before ramping into her hot sex again and again until she started calling out his name. He kept kissing her face and hearing her lovely cries of pleasure for him as he pumped into her.

It had been more than thirty minutes since they had found themselves in the compromising position which if Valecia Greengrass saw would surely make her feel more disgusted by her younger daughter. But as it wasn't Astoria's first time, Draco knew that she had already suffered the bad omens purebloods gave the young unmarried girls who had lost their innocence to someone who wasn't their husband. Though he didn't care about that tradition, in fact after the war he had stopped following any of his old traditions and that made him happy because if it hadn't been that he would never had been at the position he was in at that very moment.

With two more thrusts Astoria moaned Draco's name once more, arching her back towards him as her orgasm enveloped her entire body in the feeling of immense pleasure. Draco's followed her in a matter of twenty seconds as her insides squeezed him to a point at which he couldn't hold himself any longer. He collapsed next to Astoria, panting heavily as he ran his hand up and down her sweaty body.

They turned to look at each other but didn't say anything to each other. The few moments of silence were enough for them to share their true feelings for each other. They smiled at one another immediately after which Draco pulled a blanket on them, pulling Astoria closer to himself.

He kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear, "We shouldn't... you... I... you deserve better. Not a Death Ea..."

She immediately silenced him with a kiss so he couldn't complete what he was about to say. "Please! Don't say that, Draco."

"Why not?! It's true. I am pathetic Astoria, not at all special. I don't want you to lower yourself to my level," he whined.

"Shut up! You are not pathetic Draco. You are everything good. You are amazing," she stated, stroking his cheek.

"How can you say that? Everyone thinks I am bad and that I should've been in Azkaban!" He exclaimed.

"Draco... You are not bad just misunderstood. You know, last year I read an article in the muggle newspaper about the loneliest whale in the world..."

"Yeah! And I am the loneliest man in the world!" he spat.

Astoria sighed and said, "Just listen... So, some muggle researched about her. They were tracking her for a long time and they finally discovered the problem. She isn't like the other baleen whales. Unlike all the other whales, she doesn't have friends. She doesn't have a family. She doesn't belong to any tribe, pack or gang. She doesn't have a lover either. She never had one."

"Oh, so she and I must be soul mates!" He spat again.

"Shut up. It's not funny! As I was saying, her songs come in groups of two to six calls lasting for five to six seconds each. But her voice is unlike any other Baleen whale. It is unique, while the rest of her kind communicate between twelve and twenty-five hertz, she sings at fifty-two hertz... You see, that's the problem. No other whales can hear her. Every one of her desperate calls remains unanswered. Each cry ignored. And with every lonely song, she becomes sullen and more frustrated. Her notes are going deeper in despair as the year goes by..." Astoria finished, wiping the tears falling from her eyes.

"So, it's not her?" He asked, as he let the sad story of the whale sink in.

"No. She is special just like you. I have seen your work Draco, from your first painting to the last one you drew before mine. They are so deep just like her songs. So never say that you don't deserve this because you do. Every moment of this."

"I hope someone listens to the whales songs one day like you listened to my heart," he said softly, entwining her fingers with his before they drifted off to sleep.

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The three weeks passed in a blur. After that night it seemed that somehow their friendship or what they thought was friendship was something very different. Every day they discovered new things about each other, about their past mistakes, relationships, sins but even then they didn't judge each other on any of those things. Like Draco had been surprised when he heard that Astoria used to have a secret boyfriend who was from USA and when she told her mother that she was living in her friend's house for a summer but had actually been living with him in an apartment in London as he had been visiting. Though, they had an ugly breakup with her almost blowing up his apartment. And when Draco told her about his past, she didn't looked at him with a disgusted look but actually stroked his hair all night as his head rested on her chest. The best thing that Draco liked about Astoria was that she was easy to talk to. He felt that he had a heart to heart connection with her.

"Finished," he said sadly, placing his wand back in his robes and placing the quills on the table. It was the last day of the fifth week and Valecia Greengrass was arriving the next day to take the painting and Astoria away.

Astoria, who had been looking fairly uncomfortable for the past three days, strode towards him and turned to look at the portrait. She gasped, it made her feel like she was looking at a mirror but the painting was not moving. She had to use light magic to put her traits, character and thoughts in the painting Astoria's mind. But at that moment her mind only revolved on two things: Draco and...

"I think I'll be going to sleep now. I have to wake up early to pack my things, have to leave for New Zealand soon," he stated, interrupting Astoria thoughts.

She immediately grabbed his hand as he moved towards the bedroom. She pulled him closer to him and tip toed to kiss him on the lips. At that moment, Draco felt that he had become blank again and found himself passionately snogging Astoria while taking her to his bed in his arms.

Fifteen minutes later they were in bed, Astoria sitting on Draco's lap, holding his shoulders tightly, and grinding herself on him as she softly moaned. She rested her head on his shoulder and started moving faster as they came closer to release. As he thrust up to her, he moved his hands from her hips and gently pulled her head up from his shoulder. He looked at her as they both came together. Once their moment of ecstasy was over, he opened his closed eyes and said, "I love you."

Those three words held more meaning than I love you. And he clarified the meaning while looking into her shocked eyes. "I love you Astoria. Please don't leave me... please!" He cried.

"I.. I... can... Can't leave you Draco... I... lo... love you too, I love you so much," she replied blushing furiously and kissing his lips as he took a deep breath of relief.

"Come with me to Dunedin, please. I can't even think to live without you anymore. You are my everythi..." She silenced Draco with another kiss and smiled.

"Yes... yes... b.. but the... there is somet.. thing that you should know," she said nervously.

"Okay!" He pulled her up from his lap and made her sit next to him on the bed.

Astoria took a deep breath and said, "I... I know we just met Draco but I have fallen in love with you and even I can't live without you. These five weeks were the best five weeks of my life and I hope our next fifty years will blossom with our love for each other. But before you ask me to move away with you I have something important to tell you. I hope you accept me even after you hear this Draco... But... Draco... I..I.. am... I am pr ... pr... Pregnant."

Draco's eyes widened as he listened to each word she said. But surprisingly he didn't feel scared of them; he felt that he had done something good for the first time in his life. He had made a baby with the woman he loved and that was the most amazing thing he had ever done.

He suddenly sensed her vulnerability and kissed her softly. "My question still remain the same but there is a slight variation to it. Will you both come with me to Dunedin?" he asked, placing his hand on her belly and caressing it with his thumb.

She didn't feel the need to answer that question as a few tears fell from her eyes which Draco immediately wiped away and pulled her into his arms. Slowly her breathing became normal and she relaxed in his arms and at that moment Draco knew that he had to do the right thing, the thing that his heart longed to say. "Marry me?" he whispered softly in her ear.

* * *

"Draco Malfoy! You open this door right now or I'll break it!" Valecia Greengrass screamed while knocking her fist in the door. She had been standing there for the past five minutes and was not greeted by anyone at the door. When she came to Venice, that morning, to fetch her daughter back, she went first thing to the hotel where the manager told her about everything that had happened. obviously, Velucia was furious. She had immediately apparated to Draco's house in order to demand an explanation for such behaviour. Tired of waiting she used a charm to open the door and gasped as she looked around. The entire place was trash with old pieces of parchment, torn paintings and colours spilled everywhere.

Her eyes then fell on the portrait of a beautiful woman which was left in the middle of the room though part of it was burnt. She moved closer to examine the painting and gasped again when she realized that it was Astoria, her daughter. She looked like she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world with her hair falling neatly on her shoulders and part of her dress looking flawless. She then noticed a letter sticking to the canvas with her name on it.

She hesitantly opened it and read it.

_To Valecia Greengrass,_

_I know you might be thinking where Astoria and I are. Frankly speaking I think you should stop because you will never know. All her life you have treated her like vermin and made her feel ugly and undeserving of anyone's love but not anymore. She deserves better. I am going to give her and our child that._

_Have a good life._

_-Draco Malfoy_

With that the letter as well as the portrait burst into flames. Valecia was furious. But she didn't care, she wasn't going to tarnish her reputation in the Pureblood society by accepting her harlot daughter and her lover along with their accidental child and so she apparated away, leaving the memories of a disappointing daughter with the burning painting.

Miles and miles away, Draco and Astoria lay on their bed of their newly acquired apartment and nothing felt better as they gazed into each other's eyes with his hand rubbing her belly gently. As he looked at Astoria he realized that the canvas which he used to paint was not the only canvas he had. His heart was another one of his canvases, the most precious one and without any knowledge he had painted the love of his life on that canvas with permanent coloured quills and sealed it with the most powerful form of magic, love.

* * *

**(A/N: The story about the Baleen whale is true. Many of you might've read it)**

**If you like Draco/Astoria just as I do, go to my page and read some other stories that I wrote.**

**Thank you so so so much for reading. Please leave a review, please pretty please with a chocolate frog on top. Tell me what you thought about this short tale of love. :)**


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